Switching Gears: Cesar Guerra, TEP'12

Ten years in the finance industry were more than enough for Cesar Guerra. So, he left that world ready to switch gears and become, he says, “the best middle school math teacher I could be.”

Guerra enrolled in the Ed School’s Teacher Education Program (TEP) where he says he learned so much, not only from his professors and readings, but also from fellow TEP cohort members. In fact, he calls the TEP advisory system and cohort “a great source of collaborative reflection.”

“I think Cesar has contributed a steady, careful thoughtfulness to the program and all of us who are affiliated with TEP,” says Senior Lecturer Katherine Merseth, director of TEP. “He is wise beyond his years and yet accepting of all points of view. Everyone knows that when Cesar speaks, they should listen very carefully.”

Now, on the eve of commencement, Guerra hopes to take what he’s learned back to his home in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he will be searching for his dream teaching job.

Upon learning that he had been honored with the Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award for TEP, Guerra answered some questions about his time at the Ed School and beyond.

Favorite class? School Reform with Kay Merseth. In that course we were asked to complete an assignment where we defined and explored what we believe the purpose of schooling to be and to design a school that embodied those values. This assignment gave me an opportunity to reflect on my most fundamental beliefs about education and my role as a teacher.

Any other professors who significantly shaped your experience at the Ed School? Meira Levinson. I only took one J-term course with her, but it was a particularly impactful week. In her class we learned about the political construction of urban schools and explored what it meant to be an effective educator in this context. The various activities she designed and the ways she led discussions also served as an exceptional pedagogical model for me as an aspiring teacher. I also found Professor Levinson’s eloquent and passionate reflections on her own teaching inspirational.

How did you stay inspired throughout the year? I always tried to focus on my students (they are inspiring!) and I tried to constantly reflect on how to best serve them. On some of the toughest days I would go back to a particular Bell Hooks passage in Teaching to Transgress, “The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created. The classroom with all its limitations remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labour for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom.”

What is something that you learned at HGSE that you will take with you throughout your career in education? 1.) Teaching is a moral and political act.  2.) Reflective practice is a critical component of continued growth as a teacher. 3.) I will serve my students best by cultivating a deep sense of solidarity with all my students.

What will you change in education? I, personally as one individual, will change nothing. In fact, one of the things I find most compelling about education is that the most pressing challenges in this field demand collective action and coordination. Even at the most basic level, teaching itself requires at least two people. I hope to work with students and communities to create a humanizing and transformational educational experience for my students.

For the full list of recipients, visit http://wpdev.gse.harvard.edu/news-impact/tag/intellectual-contributionfaculty-tribute-award/.